It ’s hard to imagine not acknowledge or being capable to chance out about the hoi polloi , ground and cultures around the world . The Internet has made it possible to take extended knowledge with the click of a mouse . And before the net , Book , television and other media were readily uncommitted sources of data . In the not - too - distant past , however , masses could only opine what lay beyond the range of their land .

Enter Marco Polo , one of the greatest voyager of all meter ( think Indiana Jones without thestuntmen ) , whose writings have influenced other travelers for centuries . At the metre that Polo venture on his sojourn , Western Europeans knew very niggling about the country Polo visited . China in particular was a mystery because it ’s wall by treacherous pot terrain , deserts and ocean . Before travel from Europe to China became commonplace , selective information and trade good from faraway lands were obtained primarily from mass who traveled the Silk Road . The Silk Road was a serial publication of trade road that allowed merchants to channelise goodness such as silk and precious gemstone from Central Asia to Europe [ source : University of California , Irvine ] . Marco Polo ’s travels on the Silk Road and other ancient trade routes , which took him farther than any European before him , were chronicle in his book " The Description of the human race " ( also known as " The Travels of Marco Polo " ) . This book was Europe ’s first glance into unknown part of the worldly concern [ source : National Geographic ] .

Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254 and call forth by his female parent . His father , Niccolo Polo , was a successful bargainer who expend most of Marco ’s childhood traveling with Marco ’s uncle . The two men returned to Venice when Marco was a teenager , only to rule out that his mother had died while they were gone . During their travels in China , Marco ’s father and uncle made an unbelievable admirer in Mongol rulerKublai Khan .

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Khan take the explorers to recall to China with a hundred or so missionaries and non-Christian priest to learn his citizenry about Christianity , as well as holy oil blessed by the Pope . The duad engage Marco in this delegation in 1271 when he was 17 [ reservoir : Metropolitan Museum of Art ] . It was easy incur the holy oil , but the group had less success commissioning missionaries – two mendicant were sent by the church , but they turned around and run short home [ source : National Geographic ] .

­All in all , the trinity spent 24 years on the route , winding through a variety of treacherous and beautiful landscape in the Middle East , Central Asia and China that traverse more than 24,000 geographical mile ( 38,624 km ) [ source : Metropolitan Museum of Art ] . The mass of their meter ( 17 years ) was spent wait on Khan ’s court in China [ source : National Geographic ] .

On the next page , we ’ll discuss how Marco made it to China and what he was up to during his halt in Khan ’s homage .

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The Great Sojourn: Travels of Marco Polo

On the way to see Kublai Khan in China , the group traveled via craft path in countries such as Persia , Indonesia , China and India ( see the mathematical function at Metropolitan Museum of Art for their specific route ) , where they get wind about fresh products – include porcelain , coal , silk and the compass . They also viewed composition money for the first clock time [ source : National Geographic ] . As you’re able to ideate , the visit took a cracking deal longer than it would in today ’s world of planes , train and automobiles . The Polo family also had to grapple with the elements : Rain , snowfall and other inclement conditions do the trip from Venice to China to be a three - and - a - half - year - trek . Another factor in this hold is the feeling that Marco was very sick along the agency for nearly a year , peradventure with malaria [ source : National Geographic ] .

The group finally reached Shangdu , China , in 1275 . Marco was put in to Khan and cursorily won him over . The Mongols ( to whom Marco referred as " tartar " ) had rule China and other Asian lands since they accept them by force in the thirteenth century with their fierce horseback warfare . Traditionally , the Mongols lived as nomads ; however , leaders such asGenghis Khanrecognized that a successful empire would have to be built on unlike precept . As such , the Mongols supported foreign crafter , merchants and traders . They also welcomed religious missionary and even recruited well - cultivate outlander to supply administrative skill that the Mongols lack [ reference : Metropolitan Museum of Art ] .

Khan took such a liking to Marco that he made him a messenger of the motor lodge , ply him with a passport of Au and involve him to go to the ends of China and back . These travels made Marco the first European to see the breadth and breadth of the land . Marco also claim in his rule book that Khan charge him to a position tantamount to governor , although detractor say that he likely topped out as a low - level functionary [ source : National Geographic ] .

Overall , Marco watch China as a hotbed of industry that far surpassed the rest of the world in term of technological and cultural advances . Despite these luxuries , Marco , his founder and uncle adjudicate to skitter town after 17 years in Khan ’s court . They foresaw political unrest – the Chinese were growing resentful of the Mongols and the aging Khan [ source : National Geographic ] . However , Khan refused to allow them to leave at first . Luckily , salvation hail in the form of Persian emissaries , who arrived to request a princess for Khan ’s great - nephew . Khan decided the Polos would be among the trusted crew to transport the princess by ocean [ seed : National Geographic ] . After delivering the princess safely , the Polos trekked home to Venice .

Life after Marco Polo’s Great Voyage

lifespan was anything but ordinary for Marco follow his recurrence home to Venice in 1295 . Very piffling is known about Marco ’s personal life , although he is believe to have get hitched with a woman named Donata and had three daughters : Fantina , Bellela and Moreta . Marco did n’t put pen to newspaper about his travels until he hoist up in prison for his function in a battle against the city of Genoa . Unfortunately for Marco , Genoa handily defeated Venice and he was sentence to a year for his military activities [ source : History Channel ] .

He made in force use of that time , however , by dictating the story of his journey to and from China to a fellow inmate by the name of Rustichello , a known writer . First print in French , Marco ’s book has been warped into more than 150 different interpretation , thanks to the inaccurate translation and editing done by the monks and printers who reproduced it . To top it off , some scholars think that Rustichello embellished helping of Marco ’s original bid to make it more interesting , so some people doubt the truthfulness of the tales [ source : National Geographic ] . critic claim that Marco would have include references to theGreat Wall of China , chopsticks and the Chinese practice of pes bandaging , had he really made it that far across the country [ source : Fordham University ] . Loyalists , however , put forward that the really big parts of the Great Wall had n’t yet been built by the time he visited . In addition , he detailed the use of paper money , which no other European before him had described .

­Whether or not you think that his journeying took billet the manner he key it , Marco ’s literary study has had a massive influence throughout account . Not only was he the inspiration for the democratic puddle biz " Marco Polo " ( seeGames Kids Playfor prescribed rule ) , but also his verbal description resulted in Europe ’s first maps of Asia . What ’s more , his locomotion inspired many other explorers to make the road . In fact , Christopher Columbus was in search of Marco ’s described localization of the Orient when he stumbled upon America in 1492 [ source : History Channel ] .

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